


To Tie a Knot

by authorized_trash



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Burning, Coming Out, Fatestring Au, Flirting, Hospitalization, Human AU, I Dont Know How to Tag on This Hellsite, Implied Character Death, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Making Out, Multi, Mutual Pining, Panic Attack, Scars, Sharing a Bed, Soulmate AU, Sympathetic Deceit, Sympathetic Remus, Trans Male Character, Trans Virgil, dlamp - Freeform, house fire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:00:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21776407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authorized_trash/pseuds/authorized_trash
Summary: Ethel Lyer was one of the unfortunate people who didn't get to meet their soulmate. The fatestring tied to his pinky finger had severed nearly two months ago. The time of reassigning had long since past, and Ethel had accepted the fact that he wouldn't get a second chance. Well, he had, until he woke up one morning, with not one, but four fatestrings.That's one hell of a real-world plot twist.
Relationships: DLAMP, LAMP - Relationship
Comments: 109
Kudos: 304





	1. The Bully Ethel Agenda

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter Warnings:  
> -House Fire  
> -Trauma  
> -Catching Fire  
> -Burning  
> -Hospitalization
> 
> Note:  
> Well, due to this story kicking up in popular demand, I shall be posting it here. This is the first time I've ever used this site, so bare with me haha.
> 
> Thank you all so much for the support on this work, I really appreciate every like, comment, and possible kudos!
> 
> Love ya!
> 
> -Lo

It was hot.

It was really, really hot.  
Ethel’s clothes stuck to his slim figure as he tossed and turned in his sleep, desperate to find the sweet relief of slumber. It never came.

The seven year old listened to the sound of nearing sirens, wondering who they could be for. His mother had told him when he was even younger, when he heard a siren, it meant someone was going to be saved. Ethel had prodded further,

‘Saved from what, mama?’ He had asked that morning, shoveling rice krispies into his mouth.

'All kinds of things babe. If you’re in danger, you call 9-1-1, and they’ll come and help. Whether there’s a bad guy in the house, or you old ma fell down the stairs,’ she had teased.

Ethel noticed the sirens grew louder, pondering getting up and watching the lights drive past his windows. They were definitely close enough by now. He became very aware of how sticky and humid his room seemed to be, his blankets heavy and dense. He sat up, flicking on the lamp.

It didn’t turn on.

Okay, the bulb must be dead. Perhaps off. The seven year old threw his cover off, swinging his legs onto the floor. It was uncomfortably warm.

Shrugging it off, Ethel got on his knees to check the plug in. It was pushed in all the way. The seven year old finally began to panic, realizing the sirens were deafening.

He shot up, running over to his window. There was a large red firetruck in his driveway, and strange people in scary suits running around. He noticed a red and yellow glow on the ground. One of the firefighters noticed him, pointing up to his second story bedroom.

Ethel froze in terror, ice running through his veins. What was happening?

He ran to his door, desperate to get to his mothers. He grabbed the door handle, attempting to twist. It took a few seconds before the pain set in.

He shrieked, ripping his hand from the knob. His hand and fingers throbbed, his flesh red and blistered. Tears filled his eyes, and he screamed.

The boy trembled, stumbling back away from the door, only now realizing the small flames that licked at the bottom. Somewhere in his small, seven year old mind, it registered what was happening.

“Mama! Mom!” Ethel screamed, trying to get his mother’s attention. There was no answer. He became aware of the low roar of fire, the cracking of the wood.

He continued backwards as the flames traveled up the paint, consuming his wall and door. He held a hand in front if his face, the light blinding.

His shoulder brushed a plastic shelf, knocking it over. Papers and books spread across the floor, and the flammable material instantly burst into flame. Soon, half of the boy’s room was in flames.

His back now to the window, Ethel stood still with fear. The room was so hot, so unbearably hot. The boy’s mouth so dry, so unbearably dry. There was no more room, no more-

And then, it happened.

His pajama sleeve caught fire.

The next two minutes went by in a blur. Ethel screaming has his shirt caught fire, barely noticing the smashing glass from behind him. A hand grabbing his shirt, ripping him from the room just on time. His shirt being stomped out, but not until his entire left side was covered in third degree burns. Being thrown onto a gurney and rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, and passing out.

•••

Fifteen years had passed since that night. Fifteen years of physical healing. Emotional healing? That was another story.

Ethel didn’t talk to many people anymore, both his mothers had died in that fire, and he was thrown into the foster system before a chance to say goodbye to anyone. It was a sad, lonely life from then on. Only when he was in college did he make a friend, Remy Nyte.

Remy was Ethel’s exact opposite. The insomniac was charismatic, didn’t care about people who stared at his crop-tops, heels, or large earrings. He didn’t care about how people looked at him when he called them pet names.

Ethel, on the other hand, cared a lot about how others perceived him. But he was good at not allowing others to see that. In fact, Ethel was an exceptional liar. A compulsive liar, if you will. Years in the foster system caused him to grow cold and calloused, doing what he had to.

Remy didn’t mind this, of course.

The two hung out often, sleepovers and long phone calls were normal, routine. Remy would call Ethel when he couldn’t sleep, which was almost every night. The two got along really well, which surprised most people.

Then, Remy met his soulmate. Soulmates was that special someone were meant to be with, someone you would love and cherish, someone with whom you were 100% compatible. You knew who they were by what you’d call a fatestring, a small thin piece of unbreakable yarn that was attached to someone else’s finger. No one could see or touch it except you and your soulmate.

Remy had explained his as a soft peach color, and spoke of it with a softness Ethel was unfamiliar with coming from the diva. Remy said that he and his soulmate would pluck back and forth to each other, not doing anything but enjoying the feeling.

Ethel wished his would do that. All he got was a sharp tug when he’d try. He’s had the small green string all his life, even as he was ripped from that window.

Emile was a sweet guy, he really was. Cute, kiddy colors, and a love for anything cartoon.

'Opposites must really attract,’ Ethel had though the day he met the boy. Remy seemed more than happy though, a smile donned widely across his pale face.

Ethel was happy for them, he really was.

Funny enough, it all happened on the same day. The day Remy found his soulmate, Ethel had lost his own.

•••

“Look, I’m really happy for you guys, really, but I gotta go,” Ethel stated, standing up from Remy’s couch awkwardly.

Remy waved him off, “Mkay gurl, do what you want, I’m not stopping anybody.”

“I’ll see ya tomorrow!” Emile said, smiling widely. Ethel gave him an appreciative nod, before throwing on his coat and stepping out. The second he closed the door behind him, he gave a sigh of relief. The air in there was awkward, and he felt like he had been third-wheeling something awful.

Oh well, no way to fix it now.

Ethel ran a hand through his hair, picking up his beloved bowler hat he wore outside sometimes. He traveled down the hallway, through the door that lead to the stairs, and briskly walked into the cold evening air. He buried his nose behind a scarf, thankful for the cover up of his awfully scarred face.

His apartment was only a few blocks away, and it didn’t take too long for him to arrive. He hung up his clothing and relaxed onto the couch, flicking on the television. Nothing good was on.

He rolled over, turning it off. He didn’t have much else to do, so he debated maybe going out to eat. He did have a bit of money saved up and there was this really nice-

A sharp pain shot through his arm, shooting straight through his heart. It began to beat rapidly. What was that?

He sat up, rubbing circles over the organ under his chest, his ribcage rising and falling with each rapid intake of oxygen.

Another flash of pain, longer this time.

Ethel yelped, jumping up. Another pain, and this time it didn’t go away. It only worsened.

He let out a sharp cry, clutching at his rapidly beating heart, his hand filled with a searing pain. Everything began to hurt, his muscles tight, tears pouring from his eyes.

He fell backward onto the coffee table, rolling over it.

Oh God, oh God it hurt so bad.

A feeling of emptiness hit him. He felt nausea build in his stomach. Something was missing, gone. Something was gone, gone gone.

What was it? What was he missing? Damnit what was gone?

Missing, gone, not coming back, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone. A void to never be filled.

He crawled back against a wall, the pain so intense he couldn’t find it in him to scream. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes like hours, hours like days.

By the time it began to fade, he was already unconscious, leaning against the wall.


	2. Morse Code Makes You Look Smart and Can Win You Some Boyfriends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting your soulmate was an experience that people often wish to never forget.
> 
> Some people never experience it.
> 
> And some get to experience it three times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Warnings:  
> -Character being found unconscious  
> -Calling emergency services  
> -Panic
> 
> Note:  
> If you are confused because you came from Tumblr and Deceit's name is different, hello. During the months of waiting on me to post this fic I have decided I like the headcanon name Ethel for Deceit better than I like Damian. :)  
> If you see where I may have missed changing his name in the editing process, yell at me.

Logan had known he was different for a very long time.

Everything about him was strange. The way he spoke, the way he never slouched, the way he could do incredibly large problems in his head with ease. Even the way he interacted with others was weird.

You would think most people would find him strange for those reasons, but no. Actually, they pointed out something different entirely.

While a fatestring could not be seen by anyone other than the two connected by it, they did infact cast a shadow. It was the oddest thing, no one could explain it, but they did.

So when people would go to shake the young man’s hand and saw the three strings that traveled with his hand through shadow, they were taken aback. It was unnatural. Wrong.

They’d rush away without much else to say, or force a smile and slowly back off.

Logan knew he was strange, he knew that the three strings did nothing to help that, but he couldn’t find anything in him to care.

He couldn’t change anything if he wanted to anyway.

~

Roman was… Extra, to say the least. He was a loud young man with an eye for theater. He was an actor, set on becoming a Broadway or Hollywood star.

He never minded the looks people gave him, the way his three fatestrings brought attention to him. He loved the attention, basked in it. Loved it like a snake loves the sun.

“Why of course I have three! The universe would never stick someone like me with only one person, it’d be overwhelming! Poor thing would faint,” he had announced one day, his voice dramatic. The others just snickered, what a weirdo.

Roman would spend his evenings singing Disney songs while he tidied his room, or gently tapping rythms to Baby Blue, one of the strings. You see, he had given them all nicknames based on color. Baby Blue, Navy, and Violet. He loved them all dearly, despite not knowing much about any of them.

He did know this.

Navy tapped rhythmically, slow and steady. They seemed collected. Evidence for that? Eh, not much, but Roman could just feel it. Baby Blue was bubbly, and would tap songs along with the actor. Baby Blue seemed nice and happy, bubbly.

Violet didn’t talk much. He’d get a tug from his side every once in awhile, but other than that, nothing. It’d tremor sometimes though, as if V was trembling. Roman was quick to act, running a finger along the string to send vibrations. He hoped the others were doing something similar.

~

Patton was an exciting ball of pure joy. The soft male would wear skirts whenever he damn well pleased, tied his ashy hair in pony tails, spun in circles until he fell down in the park, made flower crowns, and fed ducks grain because he knew bread was bad for them.

He was just an amazing person overall.

His eyes were a soft blue behind thick rimmed glasses, his face covered in freckles. He always seemed to smile, showing off the small gap in his front teeth.

He helped his mother in a small bakery, near the towns college. They got good enough business, and one day Patton was supposed to inherit the place.

The steady income was promising, so the twenty-one year old didn’t have to worry about college. They weren’t poor, but they also couldn’t afford something like that.

Oh well, he’d just have to continue living life to it’s fullest, and looking for his three soulmates.

Yep, three! He was so proud of them, despite not knowing much about them. He knew NB was calm, R was anything but, and V was different.

Patton was sure he’d love them unconditionally, he only hoped they’d show him the same.

~

Virgil hated everything about this damn place. From the cold walls to the high windows, this whole place was just genuinely unwelcoming and scary.

Virgil had an anxiety disorder, so everything had him on edge. He had to wait in a lecture hall before leaving so the halls would be clear, and then sneak out.

Anyone who didn’t know him would say he was emo. Anyone who did know him could confirm that.

He had a very dark wardrobe, the only colors other than dark blacks were variations of purple. His trademark jacket he’s had for years, he made it himself, was black with purple patchwork.

He wore minimal makeup, normally just going out in eyeshadow and eyeliner. He didn’t like color, made him stick out too much.

School was Hell. All that occurred was bullying and anxiety. The students of the college didn’t take too kindly to someone as different as him, someone with three soulmates.

Virgil used to think he was alone, even if he did have soulmates out there somewhere, who could love him? He honestly thought that they would probably never even attempt to like him, they probably hated the fact they had more than on soulmate.

Actually, now that he thought about it, did they even share soulmates? Was Virgil just doomed to be attached to three people who had no connections to eachother? How would this even begin to work, how would he ever be able to deal with it?

Thoughts like this tormented him everyday, all the way until he met his first soulmate, Red.

~

>Two years prior<

It had been a decently normal day, the sky bright and full of fluffy, white clouds. Virgil leaned against a large oaktree somewhere at the edge of the college campus, nodding his head along to some music discreetly. He messed around on Tumblr for a bit, before sighing and looking up at the students that walked around.

At first he didn’t pay much mind to the string that stretched out towards crowd, he was used to his fatestrings moving and stretching out. They never caught on anything, it was impossible.

But then he noticed how it moved. The red string was moving quickly across the field, so either his soulmate was moving extremely fast, or they were… Right there.

A male ran through the crowd, going opposite Virgil, obviously not seeing the string, which was very obviously connected to them both.

Virgil’s heart skipped, and he stood up, shoving his phone in his pocket and pulling his headphones to his neck. He took off, running for the soulmate that was connected to him through the red string.

Virgil ran, all anxiety forgotten, the pull of a soulmate too strong to ignore. He ran, his converse loud against the asphalt path.

“Hey! Wait!” He shouted, shoving past people who began to move to the side. The other must be in a rush, for he didn’t stop or wait.

He had a red sports jacket on, and white pants. An odd choice of clothing, but he was most likely a prep of some sort. Either way, Virgil just had to catch up.

“Stop!” Virgil shouted, losing Red in the crowd. He continued running, but slowed down a bit. There was just no way-

No, you know what-

Virgil yanked, as hard and as fast as he could on the red string. He felt it tug, the distance now so small there was no slack. He saw Red now, who had stumbled back and dropped his papers.

Red looked down at his string, following it with his eyes until-

They made eye contact. Red’s eyes widened and Virgil suddenly felt his anxiety pooling back through him, an illness that refused to be forgotten.

He pushed it back, walking forward to pick of Red’s papers. He stacked them nicely together, before standing up and coming face to face with the soulmate, who was still in shock.

He gently placed the papers in Red’s hands,

“You’ll need these. Don’t be late to your rehearsal,” Virgil muttered, noting that the papers were scripts.

“I- well uh-” Red stuttered, looking from the papers to Virgil, who just laughed.

“It’s Virgil,” He said, giving the actor a dumb smile. He got an idea suddenly, picking out a pen from his pocket. Normally he’d be embarrassed that he just whipped out a glitter pen, but honestly, he was an artist and it was a useful tool. Besides, no time to dwell now.

Virgil scribbled down his number on Red’s hand, his touch feather-light, ghosting on his tan skin.

×××-×××-××××

~ Virgil

He smiled at Red, before running off, disappearing. Red was left to stand there, staring at the number written in glittery ink. Oh God- wow okay- he- oof.

~

Patton loved his soulmates, he really did, but holy shit was this beginning to annoy the pastel young man.

Navy had been tapping for hours nonstop, constantly. The same pattern, over and over and over. Patton couldn’t take it, he had to study, he had to, but how would he ever with this nonstop tap tap tap tap tap-

Wait, Navy never did this, he only tapped when Patton tapped first, or sometimes at night, probably by accident. Maybe there was something wrong, maybe Patton should try to help.

So he sat down at his desk, and tapped three times back. Navy seemed to stop, before starting again, this time harder with more vigor.

Tap tap tap tap… Tap… Tap hold tap tap…

And some more was added to the sequence, before it starting over. Patton furrowed his brow, he’d heard of something like this, maybe-

‘Oh my goodness,’ Patton thought as realization hit him like a truck, 'It’s Morse code.’

He rushed to grab a pencil, knocking over a vase of flowers in the process. He didn’t even look for paper, just waited for the next sequence and scribbled down what he heard.

……-.. .-.. — / .. .—-. -.. / .-.. .. -.- . / - — / ..-. .. -. -.. / -.– — ..-

He tapped back happily, but he didn’t think Navy understood that he knew, as the soulmate just started tapping ferociously, as if frustrated.

Patton ran to grab a laptop, haphazardly throwing it onto the bed and jumping up beside it. He looked up a Morse code translator and typed it in.

“Hello, I’d like to find you.”

His heart stopped beating for a moment. Patton didn’t know what to think, but he did know what to do.

He typed in a message in English, and tapped back,

.. / .– .- -. - / - — / – . . - / .– ……-. . / .- .-. . / -.– — ..-

“I want to meet where are you?”

Simple and not super well thought out, but hey, it worked. Navy stopped tapping, realizing what was happening. They gave a small yank, and Patton repeated himself.

They tapped back and forth for a few more hours, simple messages. They’d meet in the park, it turned out that they both lived close.

Oh, he couldn’t wait!

~

Roman felt like screaming, he met his soulmate, got his number, and was going to meet him! They’d be going to the park together for a little first date, to discuss the other two strings.

He was so excited, he just couldn’t help it. Oh how fate had blessed him, Violet, or Virgil it turned out, was just stunning! Messy brown hair died purple at the ends, a jacket that seemed to be fluffy and comfortable, oh, how Roman wanted to just hold the smaller male, oh how he’d-

'Woah there Roman, you’re making your own gaydar go off,’ He thought to himself as he stared up at the ceiling. He had twirled until he couldn’t no more, falling backwards onto his nice red blankets fit for a king.

What a day it would be.

•••

>Present Day<

Remy didn’t know what he’d expected, but it wasn’t this.

When Ethel didn’t return his calls, he expected to find the male asleep, or out somewhere to eat. Perhaps with a lost phone.

But no, instead, he and Emile had stumbled upon something even worse.

Ethel’s small body was shrunk in on itself, knees tightly to his chest. He was curled in a corner by his TV and wall, a small bit of dried blood on his cheek where he had hit his head, the blood dripping down his face.

The circles under his eyes were dark, his skin sallow. His hair was a mess, and he was sweating slightly, as if he were feverish.

His eyes were open slightly, but he didn’t seem to be very conscious. His eyes lazily followed the two soulmates as they rushed over to him.

“El, babe, are you alright? What happened?” Remy asked, putting the back of his hand to Ethel's forehead. It was practically steaming.

“I’ll- I’ll go get an ambulance,” Emile said as he stood up, running into another room to look for a phone, he’d left his at Remy’s place.

Remy looked Ethel over, he didn’t seem to be very hurt, only sick. What could have caused this? What-

He saw Ethel’s arm convulse a bit, and the boy whimpered, curling further in on himself. Remy’s eyes softened in pity, and he went to help Ethel up.

The smaller of the two gladly leaned into Remy’s cooler touch, thankful to get out of that corner. He was picked up into a princess’ carry, his head falling weakly onto Remy’s shoulder.

Emile came back in, stating an ambulance was on it’s way and to get him outside where it was easy to collect him and take him to the hospital. Remy nodded,

“Turn on the lamp, I can’t see,” He said softly, as if loud noises would scare the half-conscious young man in his arms.

Emile didn’t hesitate to turn it on, but the moment he did, he gasped in horror. His gaze fell onto the wall behind Remy.

Remy turned slowly, and he had to hold on to Ethel a little tighter so not to drop him.

The shadow- his fatestring- was-

It was dangling uselessly from his hand, severed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for hurting Dee like this. I am rereading this fic for the first time in ages and I am getting sad and angry at myself haha.
> 
> I'm like, "Stupid OP hurting my son like this. Oh- oh wait. I am OP."


	3. Ignorance is Bliss (Until It's Not)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fate works in mysterious ways (in the dead of night, apparently).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo its been awhile since i actually made a new chapter for this and posted it, not just posting older ones to new sites. rip.
> 
> i only skimmed through this, so if you see a mistake plz point it out so i can fix it
> 
> Content Warnings: Hospital mention, self deprecation, poor sleeping habits, panic

Ethel was getting real sick of this stupid hospital room.

The walls were a obnoxiously bright gray, and the curtains did little to block out the pale sun of winter. There was this stupid little picture across from his bed, with a cute silhouette couple holding hands, a small loopy string dangling from their fingers.

Ethel rolled over onto his side, picking at the slightly peeling paint. He’d been in here for days, and still had an hours wait before he was discharged. 

His spine hurt from being in this position for so long, but he’d already explored the hospital five times now. 

He didn’t understand what was so important about him being here so long. They already told him the bad news. He’d already passed the mark for another soulmate. He had already come to terms wi-

A lump raised into Ethel’s throat, but he swallowed it down. He hadn’t cried yet. He wouldn’t now.

Perhaps the hardest part about this whole ordeal was the pitying looks. The nurses telling him it was alright to cry. The therapist that had stopped by to tell him it wasn’t healthy to act like everything was fine.

Everything was fine though, right? It wasn’t like Ethel lost something important. He didn’t lose his job, didn’t lose his house. No, he lost someone he hadn’t even met yet. Surely it wasn’t that important.

Yeah, he’d be a bit lonely, but was that really important? No. It wasn’t, not really. 

His stomach twisted into knots. It didn’t bother him, it didn’t. The feeling of nothing he found didn’t mean anything. The complete lack of movement from his fatestring meant nothing.

He ran a hand through his hair, and even after all this time, was a bit disappointed when he didn’t feel the string pull against his finger.

With a sigh, he sat up, reaching for his phone. He had gotten a notification from Remy, five minutes ago. He opened it. They’d be here soon.

His phone buzzed in his hand as he got a message from Emile. Sometime this week they’d swapped numbers, the therapy student wanting to be nice and keep him some kind of company.

-Hey were heading there now u ready to leave

Ethel rolled his eyes.

-no, i really do enjoy it here

-Thought so see u soon

Ethel put his phone into his pocket as he stood. Stretching. He stretched out the soreness in his arms and headed out of his room. HE was given some paperwork, which he finished quick enough.

The hospital was on campus of the town university he attended. He would’ve normally just walked to his dorm, but Remy had insisted he drive Ethel. 

He spotted Remy’s car, recognizing the sunglasses clad male as he opened the side door.

“What, no Emile today?” Ethel asked as he buckled in.

“He had work. Where do you wanna go babes? We can go out to eat or-“

“I think I’d just like to go home. Today is just such a lovely day.”

Remy looked out the window to see the thunder clouds rolling up over the hills in the distance. He rolled his eyes as he turned out of the parking lot.

“Yeah well, I’m not leaving you alone all evening, get that into that pretty little head of your's El. We’re goin’ to your apartment if you are, hon.”

“Figured as much,” Ethel said as he pulled his hat over his eyes and laid his head back against the head rest. That feeling of emptiness was present again. ‘We’ Remy had said. He was most likely bringing Emile along. It just reminded Ethel about how he wasn’t going to get another soulmate. Another fatestring. Another chance. He didn’t do anything wrong to deserve this, did he? Sure he took that pack of gum from the store without paying, but that was years ago. And yeah maybe he was a bit sarcastic and stand offish, but surely-

“Hon I can hear those gears turning in your head.”

Ethel flushed. He looked at the frayed end of his fatestring again, messing with it with his other hand. Remy’s eyes caught the movement as they pulled up to a stop light.

“You’re looking at it again, aren’t you.”

“No.”  
Remy sighed, “Ethel, sweetheart, platonic love of my life,” Ethel grumbled at that one, “It will be fine. The reassigning is just a little late is all. Perhaps its finding the perfect match to tag you onto right now. It’s rare not to get reassigned babe, there’s no way you won’t be.”

Ethel shrugged.

“Okay. That’s it babes. We’re getting some coffee. I ain’t goin’ into some sappy ass monologue just for you to shrug me off. I’m going to cheer you up with chocolate and sparkles. Buckle up.”

“I am.”

“Shuthu’ fuck up.”

Ethel hid a smirk as he lifted his hat from his eyes and looked up to see Remy’s irritated driving. They pulled into the starbucks, and Ethel attempted to forget the whole soulmate thing for the time being. 

Easier said than done.

-

(Two Months Later)

“You are being ridiculous.”

“Oh, am I? I’m being ridiculous? You, sir, are ridiculous. I am simply trying to get my work done, now if you’d simply leave me alone,” Roman huffed, crossing his arms over his chest in indignation.

“Ro, honey, you were shouting lyrics to beauty and the beast at nine in the afternoon, people are sleepy.”

Roman gave an outraged cry, he was being ganged up on by the glasses gays! He would not stand for this! “It was not shouting, I was belting! I was singing as loud as my heart desires, I simply wish to follow my heart!”

“More like belching them out,” Virgil snickered into his hoodie sleeve from his seat on the counter. Roman gave a few offended noises that sounded suspiciously like squawking.

“How dare! I am simply trying to memorize my lyrics-“

“And why don’t you,” Logan came up behind him, placing his hands on his shoulders lightly, “Memorize them in your room, and not off the balcony.”

“But there’s no romanticism in that.”

“Baby, I’m sure that nice imagination of yours can think of a nice audience to listen to you,” Patton said, kissing Roman on the forehead as the redhead fell to the couch.

“A more willing audience then our neighbors,” Virgil grumbled, “I don’t want another sound complaint.”

“Better yet,” Patton said, pulling Roman right back to his feet, why don’t we go to your room, and I’ll listen to you..”

Roman perked up like a puppy, nodding and already pulling Patton into his room. Logan and Virgil watched them leave, both with love stricken looks.

“This happens every night,” Logan said, walking to the coffee pot to poor him another cup.

“Yeah well, it’s a routine at this point,” Virgil said, eyeing the new cup in Logan’s hands, “You’re not planning on staying up all night with that, are you?”

Logan sighed, running a hand through his hair, “I do need to stay up late, yes. I have an essay that needs edited.”

“Logan you are going to work yourself to death one of these days.”

“And you plan on sleeping soon?”

Virgil grumbled some excuses, just as Logan thought he would. The bespectacled male smiled into his mug as he brought it to his lips to drink.

“Whatever idiot, I’m going to bed. And yes, whatever, by bed I mean I’m going to be on my phone for another hour or two. Sushi. I- I mean- damnit, sue me.”

Logan laughed, setting his drink down and pulling Virgil into his arms and off the table. The emo grumbled but returned the embrace anyways. Logan gave him a peck to his lips, brushing the hair from his eyes. 

“Goodnight Virgil, please attempt to get some sleep.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Virgil said, pushing away from Logan. He was sure his face was a deep red, but he didn’t expect Logan to notice as he rushed away down the hall.

Logan smiled again. He wasn’t normally the one to be all lovey-dovey, but it was late and he was in a good mood. A great mood actually. Life was good, stable, had a rhythm to it. Logan liked to keep things organized, liked to have a schedule, a routine. 

There had been no outside factors messing up this schedule for a few years now, and he planned on keeping it that way.

He finished is coffee and work sometime in the early hours. He couldn’t tell when, as he had immediately curled into the bed next to his soulmates minutes after. Sleep made his eyelids heavy as he drifted off to sleep, completely unaware of the faint numbing feeling in his fingers.

-

Morning came with a buzz of an alarm clock. It was annoying, and loud, but it did its job well.

Logan woke up the same way every day. He’d carefully untangle himself from his fiances, wincing as his bare feet hit the cold ground. He’d yawn as he exited their shared room and entered the bathroom. He’d brush his teeth, shower, and leave. He’d start the coffee and solve a word-cross puzzle. He’d make himself a Crofter’s covered piece of toast, leave a small note for his partners, and depart for work.

This morning shouldn’t have been any different. He woke up, untangled himself, stretched and yawned. He left the room and entered the one across the hall.  
He was too tired to notice when he reached for his toothbrush. Didn’t notice as he rinsed his mouth out. He noticed as he patted his mouth dry with a hand towel.

He dropped the cloth into the sink and shouted, stumbling back until he hit the wall. He shoved his hand into his pajama pockets, trembling all over. A feeling of dread filled him, the feeling he got when something major messed with his schedule. An unknown constant added to his perfectly mapped out life.

Logan heard his fiances start to stir and get up. He took his hands out of his pockets. They trembled violently, bringing them in front of him, praying that he was wrong, he hadn’t seen what he thought he did.

With a shaky intake of breath, he confirmed the impossible.

There was a thin yellow string attached to his pinky finger where there hadn’t been last night.

“Logan?! Logan are you alright?” Patton was the first to round the corner. He had shot up when he heard the scream and thump. His breath caught in his throat.  
Roman and Virgil were next, damn near getting wedged in the door with how fast they both rammed into it. Logan was shaking his head in disbelief, staring at his hands, at the four strings that were connected to each finger. The others looked down as well, at the string that had connected itself to their pinky fingers.

“How is that possible?” Roman asked in disbelief, messing with the string. Logan just shrugged, exhaling shakily.

“It shouldn’t be- you are born with strings, you shouldn’t be able to gain them.”

“Who are they?” Patton asked as they all looked up at each other. They had five soulmates. Five. That was a ridiculous number, absolutely unheard of.

“I guess,” Virgil swallowed, “I guess we’ll find out when we find them.”

-

Ethel woke up with the feeling that he’d been hit by a truck. Everything was sore, and his hand hurt to move. Maybe he slept on it weird. 

He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, wincing as his fingers tugged weirdly. They felt like the circulation had been cut off, they were all sleepy and heavy.  
He got up, shivering as his toes touched the freezing floor of his apartment. He could see his breath in front of him.

He really needed to fix that heater.

Walking into his kitchen, he made himself a cup of coffee, his eyes barely open. His fingers gave another uncomfortable tug. Weird. 

Slugging into the bathroom, he took a shower, running his hands of his face. Perhaps it was a good thing he was never reassigned a soulmate. The ugly scar on half his face would scare them off.

He dried off afterwards, brushing his teeth. He looked at himself long and hard in the mirror, scrutinizing every inch. He had school and practice today, enough people would see him to need makeup, and he applied the simple face he wore with practiced ease.

It didn’t do much to cover up the scars, but it was something.

He left the house with his coffee in hand and backpack slung over his shoulder, wearing a black long coat and a scarf. It was beginning to feel a lot like winter, and Ethel wasn’t one to like the cold. 

The walk to campus wasn’t horribly long. Just a walk through the park and up the block. He was pretty fit and in shape, both from the walk and practice, so it no longer bothered him any.

Ethel ignored the few looks he got from passerby. There seemed to be a lot of them today. Odd. He had lived here for a while now, surely most these people who were routinely out at this time had gotten over their staring phase. 

He spotted Remy waiting at the fence as always, speeding up slightly to catch up with him. The glasses clad male waved without looking up from his phone.

“Hey hot stuff, how’s your morning been?” Remy asked, still texting. Probably Emile if one was going off the fond look on his face.

“Dreadful,” Ethel grumbled, leaning against the fence, “I must have pulled a muscle in my arm or something, it hurts something awful.”

“Uh huh. Well, I wish the best for you babes. Maybe take some meds or somethin’ before class?” Remy looked up at him over his glasses. Ethel nodded, running a hand through his hair, missing how Remy followed them movement.

“Yes well that’s a giv-“

“Holy shit babe,” Remy exclaimed suddenly, grabbing a hold of Ethel’s wrist.

He moved out of the way of the street light, holding Ethel’s wrist out, staring at the shadows on the ground in absolute disbelief.

“You have four and you didn’t tell me?!” He have shrieked in excitement, looking up at Ethel in surprised. Ethel raised a concerned eyebrow.

“Four wh-“ His throat closed in on itself, and the world around him seemed to melt away as he stared at his hand. Four- four strings. There were four fatestrings connected to his fingers. Four-

Four soulmates?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> time to go slave through posting this to tumblr and working on that long tag list haha kill me
> 
> thank you for reading, kudos and comments keep me going and are much appreciated!


	4. That Moment When Fate Decides to Ship You With Four Other People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That moment when you need to find yet another boyfriend to add to your collection, *sigh*.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written and edited within two hours, from 4AM to 6Am, so bare with me and please excuse any mistakes until I get a chance to actually edit them lol
> 
> (Content Warnings at the end notes)

Ethel hadn’t even noticed as he slumped to his knees. Tears dripped from his cheeks and landed onto his outstretched palm. Remy’s eyes widened and he quickly moved to get on Ethel’s level.

“El? You okay there? Did you not know?” He asked, gently taking Ethel’s trembling hands in his own. Ethel let him, too in shock to take them back.

“N-no? What? How am I supposed to deal with four Remy, I already lost one I can’t- I can’t lose four!” Ethel said, staring blankly at his hands, at the strings he was now aware of. He could feel them tug and twitch as his soulmates moved. They were all pretty close to one another, stretching in the same direction. Figures, they had probably met up by now. 

Ethel was the outcast.

“You aren’t going to lose them,” Remy said, an edge to his voice, “Ethel you won’t lose them, you were jus- just unlucky the first time, babes, I promise. This time will be better.”

“No Remy you don’t understand, they’re paired with me, they’ll die, I’m bad luck or something-”

“Ethel Janus Lyer, don’t. Don’t say that. You’re not. I know you, this isn’t you, you’re just tired and not thinking clearly. This is a good thing. You aren’t bad luck. You aren’t, and babes, if I hear you say that one more time I’m going to throw some punches,” Remy said. Ethel gave a watery chuckle, and Remy smirked.

“Listen, you are in no state to go in there right now. Why don’t we ditch for a little while and go get some food or somethin’”

Ethel nodded, moving to stand. He dusted himself off. He looked down at his strings. The four colors were all lovely, red, blue, indigo, and purple. The colors were deep and ethereal in a magicky sort of way. 

Without thinking he strummed a finger across them, and startled when three out of the four tugged back. The last one, purple, started vibrating in a way that one would think meant the person on the other side was running their finger across the line.

More tears gathered in Ethel’s eyes. He was connected with these people. They were his soulmates. They were there, on the other side, waiting. The thought of them being disappointed weighed heavy, but in this small moment he could only think of the opportunity that was given to him.

Remy watched this with a small smile, ruffling Ethel’s hair as they began to walk off campus to his car.

Ethel followed, hurriedly wiping the tears from his eyes and smoothing his hair down.

“Listen, babes, you pick where we eat, and I’ll pay.”

Ethel shrugged, “Thanks.”

“What? No arguing that you’ll pay this time?”

Ethel rolled his eyes, “You offered and I’m too emotionally confused to argue.” 

His voice was thick with tears and still wobbled every once in a while, but he had managed to compose himself well enough by now. He slid into the car seat next to Remy.

He made a point not to touch the strings, not wanting them to move. He didn’t want to seem needy or something. He relaxed fractionally, attempting to gaige some personality from the strings. Indigo (Or was it navy? It was rather dark, nearly black. It was decidedly not black when reflecting light), was shaking around as if someone was writing with that hand. Red was pretty still, expect for a few swoopy movements, as if the person was flailing their arms around. Purple was shaking slightly but otherwise not moving, and blue was fluttering around like crazy, and Ethel was certain the person was messing with their string.

For a moment he wondered what his string looked like to them. He hoped it was yellow, maybe gold. He liked those colors. Green would also be nice, but he doubted that was the color, seeing as his last soul string was gre-

Ethel’s breath hitched, and that feeling of loss hit him hard, and he clenched his hands into fists. Remy glanced over at him, but didn’t comment.

He was so caught up in this new soulmate business he had forgotten he had already had one. One he had lost. The string he had grown up with, the one he had talked about with friends in grade school. The one that appeared on his fragile little hands when he was born. The part of his soul that he grew to know.

The one he knew would shake wildly sometimes, or tug painfully at others. The one he would console with gentle strokes late at night when he would wake up to it trembling. The one that would do the same for him, that had always been a comfortable weight throughout his recovery as a kid.

He would never meet the other end. Never know who it was. 

They could have died suddenly or painfully, and here they were, forgotten by their soulmate a month later due to the reassigning. Ethel was so ready to forget them, and the guilt of that was weighing on him so hard he wanted to vomit.

He pulled his knees to his chest and tried to steady his breathing, ignoring the light feeling of the dangling frayed string on his hand. 

He closed his eyes and lied to himself about how bad it hurt.

-

“It is a very lovely shade of yellow,” Roman commented from where he was laying on the couch. He was looking up towards the ceiling, his hand containing his string collection in front of his face as he examined the sun colored string as it swung with the others.

“It reminds me of a sunflower when hit by the sun juuusst right,” Patton said, curled up on Roman’s chest. He was also looking at Roman’s hand, messing with his own strings absentmindedly. 

Logan was sitting in the arm chair across the room, having stayed home. They all had decided to take the day off of responsibilities, this was a large occasion, after all. He had a notepad on his lap and was writing down everything he could about the situation. He had a knack for writing information about anything and everything down. He liked to be well documented.

Virgil was curled up on the floor, scrolling through Tumblr in the way he does when he’s thinking, and not reading a single thing. If it looked like art and was colorful, he reblogged it without thinking. He was more focused on the way the new string on his hand looked as he occasionally typed.

They all sat around in domestic silence, preparing for the long talk they were going to have to have soon. 

They all noticed it, despite no one saying it aloud. That feeling of something missing. They grew up with it, but had by now gotten so used to that feeling of wholeness. Now that it was gone, so suddenly? They didn’t know how to feel about it, really. It’s easy to lose something you didn’t get a chance to know or experience, but getting a taste of something amazing to have it disappear was near torture.

“I think it appears to resemble the yellow paint Roman likes to get all of the carpet,” Logan said, lips upturning slightly at Roman’s upfronted sound.

“Nah, it def’ looks like… I don’t know, snakey,” Virgil said.

“Snakey?” Roman asked, laughing slightly, “What about the color looks like a slithering reptile?”

“Uh, snakes equal yellow, duh? Same as seven being green,” Virgil rolled his eyes as if it were obvious.

Patton laughed, “Kiddo, seven is pink.”

“Seven is seven? It cannot be either pink or green, it is a number,” Logan said, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Just let them be weird, Specs, with their weird color assigning,” Roman laughed, sitting up. Patton yelped as he slid off the couch.

“Listen, I’m just saying its snake yellow,” Virgil said, “But if you wann-”

Virgil was caught off as a particularly hard twinge came from the yellow string. He looked around at the others, and noticed they had felt it too. Up until this point the string was pretty chill, if a little shaky. Logan had suggested earlier it was due to shock.

As crazy as gaining a new string out of the blue was a wild, gaining four strings must have been insane. Virgil pitied the poor person, it probably scared the shit out of them.

Without thinking, he reached forward and ran his index finger over the string a few times, showing that he was here.

“This is so exciting! We have another soulmate to hunt down!” He waved his arms around animatedly. He looked as if the idea had just clicked for him.

There was a whole other person out there waiting for them, someone who would fit into their little dynamic. Someone with likes and dislikes and quirks and feelings, a whole human being.

Virgil felt himself smiling along with the others. Logan had gone back to scribbling on his notepad, even faster this time. Patton was chatting with Roman about the possibilities while rolling the string around in his fingers.

Virgil curled into the warmth of his hoodie, and for once, allowed himself to look forward to the unknown future.

-

By the time Ethel had gotten home late that night, he was exhausted. He collapsed onto his bed in a pile of limbs, kicking his shoes off and snuggling into the covers. He didn’t bother with his shirt other than unbuttoning the top couple of buttons, and he had long since ditched his gloves. They were currently somewhere buried in his bag.

He and Remy had loitered around town for a while, talking about anything and everything. Ethel had really tried to be in high spirits and give his usual sarcasm, but he just wasn’t feeling it. 

His eyes drifted shut, and the beginnings of a dream had already begun to swirl, sounds and nonsense conversations were supplied to his mind, and he let his mind wander as it drifted into resting mode.

That is, until he felt a tug on his ring finger.

He opened his eyes a bit, glancing down at his hand, at the indigo string.

Tug.

His eyes opened, he was paying attention now.

Tug tug tug tug. Tug. Tug pull tug tug. Tug pull tug tug. Pull pull pull.

Ethel moved to sit up, but found the effort to be too much. He decided, through the hazy-slow process that was thinking when half asleep, that this was a matter of importance, and therefore should happen in the morning. So he fell back asleep without paying it too much mind.

-

Logan sighed heavily as he stood from his chair, giving up on tapping out a message to their new soulmate. During their talk earlier the group had decided that it would be a good idea to try and meet this person as soon as possible, in order to diminish the time they felt incomplete.

It shouldn’t be too difficult. They could all drive, and all felt like the soulmate had to be relatively close. Reassignments normally happened to people who are near each other. The farthest recorded reassigned soulmates were four states away from each other. Almost everyone else was within the same state at least.

Logan had proposed morse code, the same way he and Patton had found each other, and the way they would occasionally send stupidly sappy quotes to one another on occasion. It must have been too late because the person wasn’t answering. He would have to try again sometimes tomorrow.

He heard a soft knock on his office door, and a few hushed whispers from somewhere farther in their shared house.

“Yes?” He called through the door, looking over as it slowly opened. It was only a little past midnight, but he still felt it to be inappropriate to talk any louder.

“Hey Lo? Me and the other two were wondering if you could join us in the kitchen to talk… again,” Patton said softly, leaning against the doorframe.

“The others and I,” Logan corrected, but nodded as he stood up, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. My sleeping schedule is probably messed up at this point anyway.”

Patton smiled fondly, and turned to lead Logan back to the kitchen. Virgil and Roman were sitting across from each other at the table, bickering about something under their voices.

They both looked up when Logan walked in,

“Okay, so, now that we’re all here,” Patton started, clasping his hands together as he sat down. Logan pulled up a chair, spinning it so it was backwards. He loathed to sit in chairs normally, both he and Virgil seemed to share that small quirk. Roman simply splayed himself out on the nearest surface, and Patton tended to sit criss-cross on the floor more often than a chair.

Logan shook his head to snap himself out of his wandering thoughts, focusing back onto Patton.

“We’ve come to a decision, Logan, and I’m sorry you weren’t here a little earlier, but we didn’t want to bother your work.” Logan nodded, not at all perturbed by being left out of the conversation. In fact, he was happy they left him to his own devices for awhile. It’s not like he was out of the loop, they were having the conversation for a reason.

“And?” He asked, quirking his head to the side.

“-And we’ve come to the conclusion-”

“Patton, please stop sounding so serious, it’s unnerving, that’s Logan’s thing,” Virgil cut in, rolling his eyes fondly.

Patton snickered, but continued, “We think it would be best if you were the one to go find our new soulmate. Like you said earlier, meeting all of us at once might be too much for them, and you’re one the… er… easier of us to handle.”

“Roman would probably serenade them the moment he saw them,” Virgil teased, elbowing said soulmate.

“Excuse you, you’d scare them off with all that,” Roman gestured to Virgil’s outfit, “Edge.”

“I see. So when should I leave? I’ll have to call off work and do extra to catch up in my classes.”

“Sometime tomorrow would be good, Lo. I’m hoping to meet them by the end of the week. I really do think they’re close, if not in town.”

“I agree,” Roman nodded, and Virgil shifted and did so as well.

“Very well. I’ll leave around noon, then. I planned on continuing with the messages until I manage to get an answer, Perhaps they’ll tell me where they are. It shouldn’t be much harder than that.”

“Yeah! That sounds awesome,” Patton smiled, then suddenly squealed and flapped his hands, “Ooh I’m just so excited to meet them, my goodness-”

“I wonder what they will be like, I don’t think I could stand another emo in the group,” Roman joked, and Virgil swatted at them.

“Listen here Princey, you like my emo. Besides, your eyeliner was a hot mess before I showed you how to properly apply it, so you better thank this emo,” Virgil snapped playfully.

Logan watched them with a soft expression, standing up and stretching.

“We should all get some rest, then. Big day tomorrow,” Logan said, walking towards their room. The others nodded and moved to stand.

Big day, indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warnings:
> 
> Mentioned character death, vomit mention, self deprecation, panic attack, cursing, tell me if there's more)
> 
> :)  
> You can chat with me at authorized-trash on tumblr, I like talking to people 
> 
> I apologize for being so late but ya know life sucks and yada yada. I don't plan on stopping until this is all written and stuff so like, no matter how long it doesn't update for I'm still going to update at some point lol. Even if that means i update tomorrow, a week from now, or seven months down the line as;ldkfas;ldfkj
> 
> I'm excited for next chapter :]
> 
> I read and appreciate all comments, so please leave some!


	5. Important Meetings in a Coffee Shop Bathroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethel should know better than to walk into coffee shops when he's the protagonist of a romance fanfiction smh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise motherfathers, yalls comments inspired me to write some more, so here's 3600 words of >:]
> 
> Chapter content warning in the end notes

By the time noon had come and gone and Logan had left, the others were restless. Patton was stress baking and Roman was practicing his lines a bit louder than normal. Virgil was nowhere to be seen, most likely hiding in their shared room listening to too-loud music.

Patton kneaded dough between his hands, planning on making bread. One would think he would make cookies or something while stressed, but he found the process of homemade bread and the smell of it baking was much better for calming. 

Over the years he had gotten pretty good actually, won a few dumb little neighborhood competitions with his baking. His soulmates all adored his cooking, Roman had stated one of his favorite things to wake up to was the smell of pie or bread.

Patton let his mind wander while he worked, thinking about his new soulmate. He couldn’t help the wave of anticipation and impatience that hit him when he thought about their meeting. He was just so excited! A large smile stretched across his face, and he did a few happy stomps with his feet.

Roman stopped repeating his lines and looked over to him, a soft smile on his face.

“You okay over there, dear? You’re lucky that bread isn’t alive, you’re beating it quite thoroughly,” Roman said with a teasing tone.

Patton looked up at him, blushing a bit at being caught, “Oh! Yeah of course I’m fine! I’m just overwhelmingly giddy, I guess.”

Roman laughed and crossed the room with a few long strides, grabbing Patton around the waist and setting his chin to rest on the other’s head. He gave a kiss to Patton’s scalp, and Patton giggled and swatted playfully at him.

“Ro stop, I’m trying to cook,” Patton whined, placing the kneaded dough into a bread pan. He leaned back into Roman’s hold either way, looking up at him through his eyelashes.

“Sorry Sweetheart, I simply couldn’t resist,” Roman winked, laughing softly. They stood there for a few moments in silence, swaying slightly.

“Do you think they’ll like my bread?” Patton asked quietly.

“What? Of course! If they don’t I will have to fight them,” Roman said dramatically. Patton chuckled.

“No fighting Roman, everyone has their own tastes.”

“If someone’s taste doesn’t like your bread, they’re wrong. Sorry, I don’t make the rules,” Roman spun Patton and gave him a peck to the lips.

The oven beeped a few times behind them, and Patton started to squirm in Roman’s hold.

“Babe, you gotta let me go so I can cook!” Patton said, squealing as Roman held steadfast, unmoving.

“Nuh uh, you are in the Princey Dungeon of snuggles and cuddles, I’m very sorry Padre, but I simply cannot let go unless you pay bail.”

“Which is?”

“Kiss me.”

Patton didn’t protest as he pressed their lips together. Roman hummed and smiled into the kiss, trailing his hands up Patton’s back and threading his fingers into Patton’s hair. After a few long seconds they parted for air, but Roman didn’t seem to want to stop, and at this point neither did Patton.

Before long Patton was up against the counter, kissing back with fervor as Roman picked his legs up and sat him on the counter. Patton made a small noise into the kiss, arms draped around Roman’s shoulders.

Just as Roman was teasing his hand up and under Patton’s shirt, a gagging noise came from the door.

“Eugh, can ya’ll like, not be horny in the kitchen please? I don’t want you contaminating my bread.”

Roman nearly fell to his ass with how fast he jumped off of Patton, and Patton buried his head in his hands and grumbled something under his breath.

Virgil laughed all the way to the kitchen’s island, wheezing and wiping tears from his eyes.

“You two should see your faces, you would think your parent’s just caught you or somethin’. Calm thyselves.”

Patton just stood silently and went to put the bread in the oven.

“Wait, excuse you. Your bread? No, sorry sis, it’s mine,” Roman said as he brushed himself off.

“Oh god, please don’t call me sis, I’m your boyfriend, that’s weird,” Virgil said, moving to sit himself up onto the counter on the other side of the room.

“Oh,” Patton spoke up suddenly, “Roman, I meant to ask, how’s Remus? You haven’t talked about him in awhile.”

Roman’s brother Remus visited them every holiday. It was getting close to thanksgiving at this point, and they were all looking forward to seeing him.

Roman shrugged, “Don’t know, haven’t talked to him in… a little over a month now?”

“How come?” Patton asked.

“Normally I’m not the one who reaches out to talk, I just haven’t thought about it. And since, ya know, I don’t talk to my parents, it’s easy to lose contact for larger periods of time,” Roman explained, slumping into a chair at the kitchen table. Patton nodded in understanding.

They went back to their routines, this time with both Roman and Virgil on their phones while Patton baked a few more things.

Half an hour went by with little words, just a comfortable silence as they all enjoyed the company.

A sharp and hard tug caught their attention.

“Ow, damnit,” Virgil said, shaking his hand roughly as if it were burned. The other two looking down at their hands in confusion, wincing as their yellow strings gave another sharp and painful tug.

“Language,” Patton chided absentmindedly, then, “Do they want something?”

“I don’t think people yank on their strings that hard in order to get someone’s attention, Dearest,” Roman said, flinching as he bent his finger. It was already sore.

“They’re not trying to take the string off or something, right? That’s impossible, they should know that,” Virgil said shakily, curling in on himself and his hoodie.

“It is. Maybe they’re not thinking clearly?” Roman said, trying to offer an explanation.

Patton pouted, 

“I hope they’re okay.”

-

Ethel was not okay.

You wouldn’t be able to tell it, though, with the way he was carrying himself.

His strides were confident, and he held his head high. He tipped his hat at the people who walked by and offered polite hellos. He looked like every bit of a man who was sure of himself.

But he was far from it, really.

If you knew him personally and were looking closely, you could see the way he sometimes fidgeted with his jacket sleeves. You’d notice the slight tremble in his hands, or the way he seemed to run his fingers through his hair too many times. He honestly probably had his hat off more than he had it on, lifting it off of his head as much as he was.

Ethel was a nervous wreck, but a nervous wreck who was good at hiding it.

His classes that day were ridiculously stressful, and it didn’t help when every other person exclaimed suddenly when they noticed the shadows of his soulstrings. He would wave them off, or excuse himself. Hell, a few times he even made up what his soulmates were like. He wove tales of wonderful people who had swept him off his feet, if only to appease the asker and get them to stop bugging him.

He had watched earlier that day as the indigo string seemed to detach from the others, just barely heading in a different direction. It was a very slow process, meaning they were probably decently far, but it still scared him.

Were they going to work? Coming to find him? Oh god, what if indigo left the other three because he couldn’t deal with another string showing up? What if Ethel was the reason why they broke up?

No, Ethel thought to himself with a shake of his head, no that was ridiculous. Really, he needed to stop letting his head go off in random directions, the self deprecation was getting old.

Ethel walked up the steps of his apartment building, entering with a nod towards the doorman. The man smiled and waved.

“Heya, EJ,” He greeted. 

“Hello, Larry. How’s the wife?”

“Oh you know her, same old. She’s missed you, you know. You should really come over for some tea sometime soon,” Larry said, opening the door for Ethel.

“Sure thing, how does Thursday sound?”

“That would be awesome, see you then, Ethel.”

Ethel smiled to himself as he entered the elevator to his floor. He let out a shuddery breath. Small talk came to him easily, he was never really introverted to be honest, but that didn’t stop it from being taxing on the days when he really didn’t want to have to see people.

As soon as he crossed the threshold to his apartment, he checked the time. 

Okay, it was a little past five in the afternoon, cool. He figured Remy would be up to go somewhere, if he wasn’t already out with Emile.

He shot him a text, which he got an immediate reply on.

Girl course i wanna hang. Ill be there in half hour, see ya hot stuff xoxo

Ethel chuckled to himself. Of course Remy would be the kind of person to still unironically use X’s and O’s.

He double tapped the message to like it, and took off for the restroom. He needed to freshen up before he left for the outside world.

He went ahead and re-brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and washed his face. He really needed some moisturizer for his burns, they were getting a little scratchy around the edges, the sensitive skin looking a little red and agitated. 

By the time he was done towling himself off, his eyes fell from his face in the mirror to the strings tied neatly around his fingers. He had spent most of the day ignoring them, other than the occasional check-in on Indigo’s progress.

He looked at them for a long while, feeling how they moved. He always found it so fascinating, how sometimes they would be pulled tight and sensitive to any slight movement, and how other times they seemed to pool onto the floor in piles of color. He figured it depended on some kind of need or something, it was always when someone’s emotions were high that the strings seemed to tighten, maybe as a way to aid communication.  
Ethel just figured it was some weird magicky shit, and didn’t let it bother him too much. He had gotten over the trying to explain the strings stage back in middle school, back when it was just him and green.

Nausea and guilt ate at his insides even thinking about the green string. It hung loosely to the fingers on the hand opposite the new strings, its once brilliant earthy color now a faded grey.

It was so pale and sad looking in comparison to the other brighter strings, and Ethel couldn’t help but want to cry again. It was such a lovely color, and he was sure they would have been such a lovely person.

He didn’t even have a name to mourn, a funeral to attend to. Only a sad little frayed string to cry pitifully over.

And that brings up another question, why frayed? Ethel hadn’t met anyone who had a dead soulmate that had a frayed string. Sure, others had their colors dulled, but the end looked clipped with scissors. Ethel’s looked as if someone had pulled it apart with their teeth.

It wasn’t fair, Ethel thought. It wasn’t fair that he got all these questions. It wasn’t even a simple, “oh no, my soulmate is dead, I’m doomed to be lonely and soulless.” No, he had to deal with all these mysteries. Why frayed? Why four others? Why add him to an already complete group? Why not someone else? Why had it been a month, when the average wait on the reassigning was a week? Were the other’s even able to love him like they loved each other? Ethel wasn’t paired with someone equally as heartbroken and lonely, he was paired with an already complete soulmate relationship. Was he doomed to be an outcast?

Ethel didn’t want this, he didn’t ask for this. 

His emotions were all over the place, but he steeled himself, and with an angry huffed, he grabbed his four strings, and yanked.

White hot, dizzying pain lanced up his arm, and he gave a shout. His vision blanked, and a throbbing headache pounded behind his eyes.

His vision cleared after a while, stars and dots still dancing across his eyes. The pain was so bad, it was nearly incapacitating. 

And in a mix of morbid curiosity and the horrible feeling of self loathing, he yanked again, harder.

He stumbled to the ground, sweat beginning to drip from his forehead. His heart was pounding in his ears, and what sounded like a dull roar caused his eardrums to hurt. Every bone in his body ached, and his arm hurt to move.

Well, he thought, guess they were pretty authentic then, at the very least.

He heard a knock at the door and tripped over himself to get up. He dabbed his face with the towel once again, wincing at the pain in his arms.

By the time he left the bathroom, Remy was already standing inside.

“What on earth were you doing in there, you look awful,” Remy asked, before going a bit pale, “You know what? Don’t answer that.”

“Oh shut it,” Ethel snapped, taking his hat off the counter and fitting it back into place.

“So, wanna head out to that coffee shop you like downtown?”

Ethel shrugged, “Why not.”

“Sweet, let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

Ethel sighed but laughed at his friend's antics, following him out the door with a fond shake of his head.

The coffee shop was nice. It was small, cozy, and had a nice arrangement of potted plants scattered about. The barista was kind, and pretty cute. They had a cute grungy-emo thing going on. 

Ethel had a thing for emos.

He, like normal, had ordered some black coffee with a two creams and a sugar, much to Remy’s dismay. Remy had then proceeded to buy some ridiculously over sweetened drink with a stupid name and two muffins to share, much to Ethel’s dismay.

“You have got to stop buying food for me Remy, I’m a grown man, I can pay for myself.”

“I offered. Besides, you need your money for your hobbies.”

“What hobbies?” Ethel laughed, smiling despite himself.

“I don’t know, your music. You play the clarinet, right?”

“Flute, actually,” Said Ethel, rolling his eyes, “And it’s not a hobby. Band was the only reason I managed to get into college. You know this, why are you asking?”

It was Remy’s turn to roll his eyes, “Small talk, babes.”

Ethel was so caught up in their conversation he missed as the indigo string tied to his finger moved at a rate much, much faster than earlier that day.

“Mhmm, small talk about something we are both familiar with?”

“I don’t know, you band nerds seem to like to talk about band, despite making sure it is known that it is hell on earth,” Remy laughed, “Why don’t you, I don’t know, tell one of those ‘this one time at band camp-’ stories, babes?”

“Uh huh, and which one haven’t you heard?” Ethel did in fact have a lot of stories, as every band kid tended to, but he was almost certain Remy had heard every one three times. It was obviously his best friend was just trying to cheer him up, and honestly? Ethel really appreciated it.

“I don’t know, what about the one time you passed out on field and went to the hospital for a broken rib after being stepped on?” Remy’s grin was shit-eating, and Ethel felt his face turn a deep crimson.

“We agreed not to talk about that,” he hissed, attempting to hide his face behind his coffee as he took a sip.

Remy shook his head as he laughed, before standing up.

“I’m heading to the restroom babes, try not to miss me too much.”

Ethel sighed and sat back in his chair as Remy left, closing his eyes and smiling to himself. He was enjoying himself, this was nice. Remy was an awesome friend and really helped Ethel to forget all about his stupid soulmates.

If all went Ethel’s way, he wouldn’t have to deal with soulmates for the rest of the day.

Of course, knowing how fate liked to fuck him over, that isn’t what happened.

-

Logan had had an exhausting day, and he was ready to get it over with. He wanted nothing more than to go home to his soulmates and curl up against them, but he knew he couldn’t. He had been sentenced to sleeping in a cold hotel bed, alone.

The day had started well, with breakfast with his beloveds and a few kisses to his cheek, and a few kisses he returned. He had left with a small smile on his face.

But his good mood had slowly disappeared as the day wore on, as no sign of his other soulmate was to be found. The string slowly started to move more and more as he was sure he was getting closer, but the direction it was in was so vague, he could only hope he was going the right way as he drove.

Honestly, he didn’t know why some machine to find them hadn’t been invented yet. Surely there was some way to get some magnetic something or other to pick up on soulstrings, and then lead you there with a convenient little GPS voice.

But nope, the stupid strings were too stubborn to be beat. Everyone had just accepted them as immovable magic and was done with it.

Everyone including Logan, but he still felt like he was allowed to complain about that fact.

It was a little past six in the evening at this point, and the sky was beginning to darken considerably. Logan could feel his body getting heavier, but wasn’t quite tired enough to stop yet. 

He didn’t think his perception skills were too bad, surely he had a few more hours left in him.

That was probably a bad judgement call, as they were apparently bad enough to not notice how fast the string on his finger moved as he turned the corner into coffee shop parking lot.

He locked his car as he stepped away from it, and entered the building. He took a right to the restroom, wanting to wash his hands before doing anything else, not enjoying the feeling of sweaty driving palms. 

He heard the door behind him open, and looked up to see a man wearing sunglasses (indoors?) walk in.

“‘Sup Babes,” the man said, and Logan lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

“Babes? I’m sorry, do I know you?”

The man laughed, “Nope, you just look like someone who would be fun to piss off by calling them babes. For real though, why are you wearing a necktie in a coffee shop?”

“Plenty of people wear neckties in a coffee shop,” Logan answered, fixing his tie with an affronted look. The other man just laughed, running a hand through his hair.

“The name’s Remy,” The man said, offering his hand to shake. Logan took it, if with a little hesitance and confusion.

“Logan.” Logan responded. Remy nodded, going to turn around and leave, probably deterred from using the restroom in what would now be an awkward situation. He stopped suddenly, eyes going wide from behind his sunglasses.

“You have four soulmates?” He said, looking at the slight shadow cast on the tiled floor.

“Yes,” Logan answered, easily. Remy was not the first one to ask that today. There was the woman at the gas station, and the man walking his dog outside of the Ihop. It was a little disorienting hearing four instead of three, but whatever.

“You here with someone? One of your strings seems to be pointing in a weird direction,” Remy commented, nodding down at the shadow heading straight out the bathroom door. Logan looked down hurriedly, just now noticing the yellow string that was pulled tight.

“I- no I’m not. I’ve actually been looking for our fourth soulmate all day,” Logan didn’t take his eyes off the string, “In fact, it only appeared recently. Me and my other soulmates decided it best to find them as soon as possible.

After a few more minutes of staring wide eyed at his yellow string, he looked up at Remy. He, once again, looked confused at the wide smile that had spread across Remy’s face. The sunglasses clad man grabbed Logan by the hand and tugged him towards the door.

“Come on, there’s someone you need to meet.”

Logan allowed himself to be pulled back into the main part of the coffee shop and led in the direction of a booth in the back. He opened his mouth to protest, but stopped when he caught sight of the man seated at the table.

“Ethel, babes, you will not fucking believe who I just ran into,” Remy exclaimed. The man, Ethel, turned around to face them.

The two men locked eyes, and Logan felt his heart hammering in his chest, that familiar yet foreign feeling of something clicking into place in his chest was present for the fourth time in his life, and he was almost certain he had never been happier.

Logan was at a loss for words for one of the few times in his life.

“Uhm, hello?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings:  
> Self harm, self deprecation, making out, stress, emotional turmoil, elusion to character death, if i need to add anything else tell me
> 
> Just thought y'all should know the chapter title was NEARLY "Please Don't Fuck By My Bread, Thanks." but i didnt want to be too upfront lol
> 
> Anyway, I'm excited to see your all's reactions to this chapter, and who knows, maybe I'll gather the inspiration power to write another 3500+ chapter in a day and a half asdf


	6. What Do You Mean The Hotel Room Only Has One Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God Ethel is so GAY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is that saying? Calm before the storm? That's seems like a good summary for this chapter.
> 
> (Are ya'll proud of me? I am on a ROLL)
> 
> Content Warnings in the end notes

Rain began to pitter-patter on the windowsill. The crystal drops dripped down the glass, seemingly racing as they ran into each other, marking patterns as they went.

A flash of lightning followed by thunder rocked the coffee shop, lighting up the inside with a bright white light. The customers continued chatting, unbothered. One lonely college student looked out the window with longing, watching the outside world grow damp.

A draft from a cracked-open door caused a few of the hanging plants to sway, and one couple got up and moved to a different table due to the rain beginning to get in and making wet spots on their jackets.

A booth in the far back corner held a man dressed semi-formally, his hands hidden inside yellow gloves. His light hazel eyes would normally be hidden behind the brim of his hat, but as of now they were wide, staring in shock at another man who had approached the table with his friend.

The barista washed the front counter, looking outside to see no one approaching the small, family owned coffee shop. They walked to the back, near the kitchen. It was, again, a very small establishment, so they were the only one working. It was growing kind of late now and business was slowing.

The barista took out their phone, and dialed their brother, thinking now would be an alright chance to check in.

The phone rang for a few seconds, and just as they were going to hang up and try again later, their brother picked up.

“Hey Elliot,” their brother greeted, and the barista, Elliot, smiled.

“Wassup Virge, just thought I’d check in and say hi, it’s been a few days.”

“So it has. I’m doing fine, as usual. Some weird… uh… stuff as happened, but other than that I’m as dandy as a dandelion.”

Elliot laughed, shaking their head, “Uh huh, and when have you ever said anything like ‘dandy as a dandelion’? Seriously Virgil, what’s up? What happened?”

“You won’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“I have another soulmate.”

Elliot gave a long and low whistle, “Another? How does that even work?”

“Who knows, a new string just appeared the other day, we sent Logan to go and find them, haven’t heard any news yet.”

“That’s rough buddy,” Elliot said. Virgil laughed loudly.

“Yeah well, we’re expecting a call from Logan soon.”

“So wait, a whole ‘nother string just appeared out of nowhere, twenty years into your life?”

“Uh huh. We’re all in this state of shock, I guess.”

“I would be. Well, it seems like you got your hands full, then. I’ll get off here and leave you and your boyfriends to it. Oh! Wait, by the way, have you done it yet?”

“It?”

“Yeah, you know, the thing. With the rings.”

“Uh, no, not yet. We just got a new soulmate, it’s safe to say I’m holding off for awhile,” Virgil gave an awkward laugh on the other side of the line.

“Ha, yeah that would make sense. So wh-” Elliot was cut off by a ding from the register, and quickly said into the phone, “Oh hold on Virge, I got a customer. I lied, stay there, I’m not hanging up yet.”

Their brother laughed nervously, but said okay and stayed on the line.

Elliot took the person’s order. It was a sweet looking little old lady. She nodded as she took her drink, before slowly making her way back to a seat.

Elliot raised the phone back up to their ear, but paused before saying anything.

“Hey, Virgil?” They asked, bewildered.

“What? You getting robbed or something?”

“Uhm no, Logan is here.”

“Wait really? What is he doing? Wait no, don't answer that I sound like a stalker.”

Elliot laughed, “He’s talking to another customer. Huh, I don’t see the sunglasses guy from earlier, it’s just them.”

“Another customer? Logan doesn’t talk to people, what does this person look like?” Virgil was sounding a little frantic. There was what sounded like a scuffle over the line, and suddenly there was another voice.

“You have found my beloved!” Shouted Roman into the phone, peaking the microphone and causing Elliot to take the phone away from their ear a bit.

“Yeah it’s definitely Logan. The other person- uh, I assume they’re male but I’m not taking any chances, looks pretty put together. Hat, gloves, oh! And they have a scar on the left side of their face.”

“And what does Logan look like?” Said a third voice, and Elliot knew this was Patton.

“Like Logan.”

“No you piece of shit, what is he doing?” Virgil snapped, and Elliot smirked at pissing their brother off.

“He looks… pretty smitten, actually.”

“It’s them! He found them!” There was a loud thump.

“Roman! Jesus, you didn’t need to eject yourself from the couch!” Patton exclaimed, and Elliot assumed he had jumped down to help his soulmate.

“Should I go talk to them?” Elliot asked, a little confused about what he should do at this point.

“Just finish your shift and let them talk, we’ll meet them soon enough it sounds like,” Virgil’s voice caught, and Elliot got the impression that he was excited.

“Alright, should I leave you guys to freak out in peace? I got more customers coming in and don’t feel like being fired for being on my phone too long.”

“Yeah alright, fine, bye,” Virgil hung up abruptly, and Elliot shook their head fondly, expecting no less of his sibling.

They looked up at Logan who was still chatting with what seemed to be their new soulmate, and smiled.

He was happy for them.

-

Ethel was sure he had stars in his eyes as he stared into the other man’s blue eyes. He was gorgeous. He was tall, lean, and had a smattering of freckles across pale skin. His hair was a dusty blonde, and sharp, square glasses sat on his nose. As cliche as it was, Ethel found himself lost in his eyes, a pretty crystalline blue behind thick lashes.

Remy cleared his throat, giving Ethel a pointed look.

Ethel gave a bright smile, fighting the urge to run, and stood up. He stretched out his hand to shake the other man’s.

“Hello, my name is Ethel J. Lyer, and yours is?” He asked coolly with a flourish of his hand. The other man took it, nodding as he greeted him back.

“Logan Barry, pleased to meet you. Really pleased, in fact.”

Ethel gestured for Logan to sit across from him, just as Remy took a few steps back.

“You know what? I’m going to go sit in the car and talk to my own babe, you lovebirds have fun,” Remy said as he turned and left, taking his too-sweet coffee with him.

Ethel gulped as he watched him go, turning back to face Logan.

“Well, Logan, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself? A few moments ago all I knew was your fatestring was the loveliest shade of indigo,” Ethel said as he gave a wink, clasping his hands together on the table.

Logan’s face heated up, “Yes of course. I attend college at a town close to here, where I live with my- er- our three other soulmates.”

“Uh huh, and what are their names? Surely they’re just as pretty to the ear as ‘Logan’,” Ethel decided he wasn’t going to think too hard about Logan referring to his soulmates as his as well, he wasn’t quite ready to face that truth yet.

“Oh, they are. Patton, Roman, and Virgil, all male,” Logan responded, ignoring the fact that he seemed to turn another shade of darker red at the compliments.

Ethel nodded, his little gay heart pounding. All male, awesome. That was- wow, his brain was short circuiting. He had always hoped his soulmate would be male, and it looked like he hit the jackpot.

That awful gnawing feeling of guilt began to chew at his stomach again. 

Look at him, talking with a replacement soulmate. His original soulmate was probably looking down on him, angry. Perhaps sad. Disappointed. Disgus-

“Are you alright?” Logan asked, moving to place a hand on top of Ethel’s. Ethel’s face immediately flushed a deep crimson, and they both paused to stay at their hands for a second, before both of them took them off the table and placed them in their laps.

“Of course, what gave you the idea that I wasn’t?” Ethel asked, giving another dashing smile to hide his growing pain.

“You were looking off into nothing, I grew worried, and therefore asked if there was an issue.”

“Nope,” Ethel responded, perhaps a bit too fast and high, “Why don’t you tell me more about your soulmates?”

Logan frowned, “Ours,” he corrected, before continuing all the same, “And alright. Patton is a baker, very soft and sweet. Roman is an actor, loud, dramatic, and infuriating. He is very fun to argue with. In a healthy way, of course.”

“Of course,” Ethel repeated, nodding. He completely understood the whole ‘fun to argue with in a healthy way’ kind of thing, he and Remy did it all the time.

“Finally, there is Virgil. He’s quiet, keeps to himself a lot of the time. Roman describes him as “ridiculously emo.””

Fuck, a theatre kid, a nerd, a kind baker, and an emo? Oh ho ho, Ethel’s head was spinning, they were checking all of his standards boxes, shit.

“They sound exquisite,” Ethel responded, smiling softly. Logan nodded.

“They really are. They are excited to meet you, you know.”

“Really?” Ethel said, eyes brightening a bit, “I thought you- you know what? Nevermind.”

“No, don’t cut yourself off, you thought what?” Logan sat forward in his seat, suddenly appearing worried.

Ethel slumped, “Well, I thought you wouldn’t like me… intruding, on your relationship.”

Logan looked at Ethel. Really looked. He observed his posture, the way his hands seemed to tremble ever so slightly, and the way he was avoiding eye contact. He looked at him, and saw past the facade of a man who was confident in himself.

He saw how small Ethel looked just then, curling in on himself. A swell of emotion (ugh) welled up in his chest, and right then and there he swore to himself that he would protect this man for the rest of his life.

“No, Ethel. I must admit we were all taken by surprise when the string appeared a few days ago, however, it never even crossed our minds that you were an intruder. We aren’t looking at it like you’re intruding, but being added,” Logan assured him, his voice soft. Ethel looked at him with glassy eyes and sniffed, giving an attempt at a smile.

“You’re cute when you’re not so serious,” Ethel responded. Logan sat back in his seat and straightened his tie.

“I am not cute, and I am always serious, I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Ethel laughed, eyes sparkling with mirth.

“Uh huh, sure Specs,” he said, snickering behind his hand. He wiped his eyes with a gloved hand, clearing away the tears that were both from near crying and laughter. 

“Thanks, by the way, I needed to hear that,” he added under his breath. The affirmation helped clear his thoughts a little, but the gnawing guilt was still there and still present, if a little lessened. If only Logan could say something that would make him feel less awful about replacing his last soulmate.

Logan inclined his head in response.

“Well, Ethel, it is getting late. I must ask if you would like to come with me to meet with our soulmates.”

Ethel felt a swell of anticipation, “Why not?” He replied.

A loud crack of thunder shook the little coffee shop.

Logan blinked, a bit startled. He fixed his glasses.

“It seems that it will be storming most of the night. I did book a room at a hotel nearby to stay in, if you would like to accompany me there.”

Ethel nodded perhaps a bit too quickly. He stood up from the booth, heading towards the door.

“Yeah, let me just go tell Remy I’ll be going with you tonight.”

He went outside, wincing as the cold rain hit him. He half jogged out to Remy’s car, sliding into the passenger seat. Remy looked up from his phone.

“How’d it go? You seem to be in a hurry, babes.”

“I’m leaving with him.”

“You’re what?!”

“I’m leaving. With him.” Ethel repeated, breathless as he leaned his head against the passenger seat.

“Isn’t it a little early to like… ya know, ‘do the do’? You met him twenty minutes ago babes. Like, no judgement, but I thought you were-”

Remy shut up as Ethel smacked him in the back of the head.

“No you bird brain. I’m going with him to meet the others.”

“Oh. Oh shit! Fucking get some EJ, I’m proud of you. Now get out of my car and go meet the loves of your life.”

Ethel nodded and left the car, ignoring how that comment made him feel like dirt as he closed the car door.

The ride to the hotel was not even fifteen minutes. The silence was right on that line of comfortable and awkward. Logan had asked if Ethel listened to music in the car, and Ethel shook his head no.

“Sometimes, but normally only when I’m going to be in a car for longer than thirteen minutes.”

Logan chuckled, “Well, I can’t be in a car for three minutes with Roman before he has some Disney song playing as loud as possible, belting out the lyrics.”

“I take it he’s good at singing?”

“Oh, he’s the best,” Logan said, passionately, “He could outshine most broadway stars in my opinion.”

Ethel nodded, falling silent. 

That was the last thing said before they pulled into the parking lot of the hotel building.

Logan signed it at the front desk, and Ethel just followed him. They took the stairs to their room, Ethel didn’t have anything to carry and Logan simply had a backpack with him.

It wasn’t until they had made it to their room that Logan seemed to remember one small, minor detail.

“There’s only one bed.”

Ethel barked out a laugh, “You’re kidding, right?” He had read his fair share of fanfiction in his life, he knew where this was going.

“Why would I kid? I wasn’t expecting to meet you so soon, and didn’t think ahead to get a room with an extra bed,” Logan said, running a hand through his hair.

“Listen, it’s fine, I’ll sleep in a chair.”

“Absolutely not!”

“Oh? Would you rather me sleep in the bathtub, then?” Ethel said. Logan looked at him as he sat his bag onto the single bed in the room.

“Preposterous. You will simply have to sleep in the bed with me. If you are alright with that, of course,” Logan said, fixing his glasses that had slid down his nose.

“You offered,” Ethel shrugged, ignoring the way his gay brain was absolutely _screaming_ at him to shut up and just sleep on the floor.

“That I did,” Logan said with a small smile.

The two of them both went about their business. Logan brushed his teeth and took a shower while Ethel went down to the lobby to purchase his own essentials he would need to stay the night. Or nights, if all went well tomorrow.

By the time they were both done, Logan was sitting at the end of the bed. Ethel didn’t have anything to sleep in and Logan hadn’t brought any kind of extra pajamas so he had just unbuttoned a few buttons on his top and stripped to his boxers.

Logan averted his eyes when Ethel entered the room, desperately trying to pretend like he didn’t know his face was firetruck red.

They had to admit, crawling into the bed was honestly really fucking awkward, but both were so exhausted neither commented. 

There was only one bed, but it was large enough that if they faced away from each other, they could pretend the other wasn’t there.

Of course, like all good sharing-the-singular-bed stories go, they ended up tangled together when they woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> Content warnings:  
> Self deprecation, elusion to character death, a character assumes another is dead, tell me if theres anything else


	7. Fate Really Needs To Make Up Her Damn Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman nearly dismisses a life changing phone call from his brother, way to go Cain Instinct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol not sorry
> 
> (Content warnings in the end notes)

Ethel woke up slowly, blinking groggily as awareness came back to him.

He moved to sit up, but stopped as he realized he couldn’t move his right leg or arm. He couldn’t move much of anything, actually.

His eyes widened as he did a quick roll call of his limbs and where they were at. His right arm was under Logan’s chest, his legs tangled with the others. His head was tucked under Logan’s chin, nose to his collarbone.

Logan had a pretty firm hold around Ethel. He must have been pretty clingy during sleep then.

Ethel removed himself from the embrace as gently as possible as to not wake Logan, tip toeing to the bathroom. He took care of his business and hopped in the shower. Logan was awake and stretching his arms with a yawn by the time he was out.

He looked over at Ethel with an odd expression, as if forgetting who he was. His eyes trailed down to his hand at the “snake yellow” string that connected the two. He visibly brightened.

“Good morning Ethel, I trust that you slept well.”

Ethel thought about it. He had slept well, great, in fact. He slept better than he had slept in a very long time.

“Yes, I did sleep well,” Ethel said, brushing a hand through his hair, which was still damp from his shower.

“Well, according to the alarm clock we have an hour to leave. I’ll go ahead and get ready for the day. I’ll be back shortly,” Logan said as he entered the bathroom, the lock clicking behind him.

Ethel sat in silence. The exhaustion was still there. The horrible guilt, as _fucking_ always, was still there. And as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was excited to meet them. Like, really excited. 

He went to get ready to leave, hoping he could ignore the issues at hand. He slid on his shoes and gloves, reaching for his hat. He half wished he had some other clothes, but it wasn’t like they were dirty, he had only worn them to the coffeeshop and to the hotel. 

He ignored the way his hands trembled and his breath quickened. He heard the shower head turn on, signaling Logan was in the shower. Ethel moved to sit on the edge of the bed, staring at his gloved hands without thinking about much.

The fatestrings tied to his fingers came up and over the top of the glove. It didn’t feel like anything was there, it was nearly completely unnoticeable. The strings were weird like that, you wouldn’t feel them and they wouldn’t bother you as long as you didn’t want them to.

He ran his fingers along them, his touch featherlight. He watched as the little piece of torn string on his left hand dangled over them and gulped audibly.

He gave the four strings a soft tug, more out of curiosity than anything.

He got a couple tugs in response from Red and Purple, and a shake from Blue. It had occurred to him that he had yet to ask Logan which string belonged to who. Guess he’d find out shortly.

The showerhead turned off, and Ethel looked up at the door.

“Need something Ethel? You tugged,” Logan called through the door. His voice was muffled by what was probably a towel.

“Huh? Oh, no, sorry,” Ethel said, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

“Alright, well, the others and I have a system, you see. One tug is you need something, two is a reassurance, and three is an emergency. Patton also occasionally shakes his but that’s just him,” Logan said with a fond chuckle. 

“Sorry,” Ethel said and winced. Of course, look at him, already fucking up their rules.

“What? No it’s fine, you didn’t know,” The door to the bathroom swung open and Logan was standing there, hair dripping. He was fully clothed, which was a mild surprise. He hadn’t been in there too long, when the door started to open Ethel half expected for him to come out in his underwear or something.

He nodded, fixing his hat onto his head.

“Well, I’m ready to leave,” Ethel said, standing. Logan gave him a thumbs up as he began to throw his few belongings into his backpack. He occasionally reached up to the toothbrush in his mouth to multitask, but didn’t do it often. It just kinda sat there.

After a few tense moments of Ethel staring at Logan while he got ready, Logan straightened up and dusted his shirt off.

“Alright, I’m ready as well.”

The two left the hotel room without another word, and Logan signed out at the front desk. Ethel slid into the passenger seat as Logan threw his backpack in the backseat. He turned the keys, and they were off.

“How long until we get there?” Ethel asked.

Logan raised an eyebrow, “Thirty minutes. Are you excited? You keep fidgeting in your seat.”

“Excited is one word for it, sure,” Ethel said, tugging his hat a little more over his eyes.

“You’ll like them. Roman and Patton can be a bit much at times, but Virgil is… ah, what’s the word? Cold?”

“Chill-?”

“Yes! That’s it,” Logan snapped his fingers, “Virgil is ‘chill’.”

“I’m sure I’ll lo- like them, Logan,” Ethel caught himself before he made a mistake, “You are amazing, and a man like you probably has wonderful standards.”

“Technically I don’t need standards, as they are my soulmates, but I get what you mean. If standards were necessary, then yes, they meet them very well,” Logan said, heading up a ramp onto the interstate. 

Ethel gave a thoughtful nod and clasped his hands, twiddling his fingers around. The anxiety and anticipation was building in his chest, and he could’ve sworn Logan could hear how loud his heart was beating.

They chatted idly, the time flying much faster than Ethel would have wanted.

They pulled into a neighborhood with houses running up and down both sides of the road, and now was really when Ethel felt like he was going to have a heart attack.

His stomach seemed to leap to his throat as Logan turned into a driveway.

“You ready?”

Ethel laughed aloud, “Absolutely not.”

Logan gave him a small smile, “We can stay in the car a little while if we must.”

Ethel shook his head and reached for the handle, swinging the door open. He let out a shuddering breath.

“Better to just get it over with.”

-

The other three soulmates had been collectively losing their minds since Virgil’s phone call with his sibling the day before.

“We are literally going to meet them tomorrow, I’m so excited!” Patton had quite literally bounced around the entire house, and if he had the ability to, he would probably be doing somersaults.

Roman spun around with him at times, laughing loudly. Virgil would snicker and film them, lovingly of course, hiding his phone in the overly large sleeve of his hoodie.

They thought they had been prepared, but none of them were ready for the front door opening at a little past one in the evening the next day.

“I have returned,” Logan called into the house. Patton nearly tripped with how fast he turned the corner from the kitchen, his shoulder slamming into the wall. Roman was next, his singing abruptly cut off as he turned to see Logan, smiling brightly.

Virgil crept from their room, peering around the corner of the hallway.

“Did you bring them?!” Patton practically shouted, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

At that exact moment, a head poked over Logan’s shoulder, looking in through the door. Logan moved out of the way, and the new arrival stepped in through the door. He had his head held high, and a smug-looking smirk on his face.

Virgil, for one, noticed the tense set of his shoulders and the way his hands were shoved into his pockets forcefully. 

Everyone, however, noticed how said pockets had four strings that spread to all four of them.

“This is Ethel, he is our fifth soulmate.”

There was silence for exactly four seconds.

Then, chaos.

“Hello!” Patton nearly shrieked, his hands fluttering so fast you could nearly see through them. He looked like he wanted to run forward and wrap his hands around the other man, but barely managed to restrain himself.

Roman gave a fake swoon, “Gods am I smitten already, what is it with Lady Fate giving me such perfect boyfriends?”

Ethel smiled at the both of them, “Hello, I’m guessing you’re Patton? Logan did say you were adorable,” he winked, ignoring Logan’s indignant squawk behind him, he turned to Roman, “and you are Roman, then? I must say, I’m charmed.”

For good measure, he reached forward and grabbed Roman’s hand, kissing his knuckles just above the yellow string.

“Goddamnit, two overly-dramatic asses,” Virgil grumbled from the hallway entrance. He was now leaning against the wall, a smirk on his face giving away his amusement.

Ethel finally noticed him, eyes snapping up to meet his. Fuck, he really did have a thing for emos. 

“That makes you Virgil. As stunning in person as Logan had described,” Ethel purred, stalking forward. Virgil curled into his hoodie, hiding how red his face was quickly getting.

The new arrival stopped a few feet from Virgil. Virgil’s eyes widened as he realized he was a good six inches taller than Ethel.

The emo turned to knock his head against the wall, “Oh God, why did you have to be short?”

Ethel’s face immediately turned defensive.

“You got an issue with that?” He hissed, crossing his arms. Behind him, Roman began to laugh himself to tears.

“Our tall emo has a thing for shorter men. Especially cute shorties,” he said between laughs.

“Shut it,” Virgil snapped. It was Ethel’s turn to flush red.

“Well! Ethel! I’m so happy to meet you! To be honest with you, I didn’t think we were going to find you so fast, I’m glad though!” Patton said, clapping his hands together. Logan put a hand on his shoulder and nodded in agreement.

“I ran into Ethel’s friend in a coffee shop, he saw my four strings and put two-and-two together pretty fast.”

Ethel turned to look back at Virgil when the emo snickered.

“I knew you all met at a coffee shop, Elliot was the barista. They called me to check in and recognized you half way through the call,” he explained, stuffing his hands into his pockets, “‘Said you were looking ‘thoroughly smitten’ with an unknown stranger. Knowing you, Mr. No Feelings, I knew you would only look that way with a soulmate.” 

“Yeah! And Roman fell off the couch with how excited he was when he realized,” Patton said, poking Roman in the ribs.

Laughing softly, Ethel took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair.

“Glad I could have such an effect,” he said. He closed his eyes as he did so, which was convenient for the other three, as they all had locked eyes with a frayed little string attached to his left hand.

“Hey, Ethel, do you mind if I-” Logan was cut off by a loud ringtone. Roman groaned as he reached for his phone, checking the caller ID.

“Huh, its Remus,” He said, lifting an eyebrow in confusion. Ethel shivered at the name, a chill going down his spine. 

Weird, it must be colder in here than he thought.

Roman clicked a few buttons.

“Surely it’s fine, I’ll call him back shortly,” Roman waved it off, putting his phone back into his pocket.

It rang seconds later.

Roman groaned, getting it back out, “What does he want?”

“Maybe you should answer it,” Virgil said. He began to fidget nervously with his hoodie sleeves, “It might be important-”

Roman laughed, “It’s Remus, when is it ever important?”

Ethel looked back and forth between the four of them as Roman hung up yet again.

This time the call back was instant.

Roman groaned, answering it this time.

“Remus this better be important, I’ll catch up with you la- what?” Roman went pale startlingly quick, “... Wait no, back track, what do you mean ‘cut’? That’s not even possible- When did this happen… That long? Why didn’t you tell me then!”

The other’s all looked around at each other, looks of fear on all of their faces.

Roman went quiet for a short while, before running towards the closet by the front door. He threw it open and slid into his jacket and sneakers.

He looked over at his four soulmates, worry all over his face.

“Alright, Remus, I’ll be there. Give me thirty minutes… Alright, bye.”

He hung up, already turning towards the door. 

“Roman?” Patton asked in a small voice, “Is everything alright?”

Roman shook his head, and his voice was thick with tears, “He finally did it. That bastard. He finally pissed off the wrong damn people.”

And with that, the door closed behind him.

They all exchanged glances, and Ethel had never felt so small.

Awesome first meeting, really.

-

The man who was on the other side of the phone sniffed, wiping the tears from his eyes with a trembling hand.

He looked up at the ceiling and pursed his lips, a small smile on his face, at least his brother was coming.

The dull, throbbing ache in his left hand had yet to stop, even a month later.

He looked down at the four inch string that hung limply from his hand, the end frayed. The once brilliant yellow an ugly faded beige.

He sniffed, mourning the person he’d never know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:)
> 
> Content Warnings:  
> Self deprecation, mild language, elusion to character death, misunderstandings, anxiety, pain

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr:  
> https://authorized-trash.tumblr.com/
> 
> I love getting asks and messages, so don't be afraid to say hi!


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